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Police & Fire
Bomb Scare At Glen Rock Schools Traced To Franklin Lakes Boy, 13 Bomb Scare At Glen Rock Schools Traced To Franklin Lakes Boy, 13
Bomb Scare At Glen Rock Schools Traced To Franklin Lakes Boy, 13 A voicemail bomb threat left with the Glen Rock Board of Education was traced to a 13-year-old boy from Franklin Lakes, authorities said. The caller claimed there was a bomb in a school but didn’t say which one, Glen Rock Police Chief Dean Ackermann said. “The message, which appeared to be from a child, was more than 12 hours old when discovered, and staff had observed nothing suspicious at any of the borough’s schools,” the chief said. “At no time was there any evidence to support the idea that any school facility could have been compromised,” he added. Police Sgt. Greg Carter and Detec…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hackensack Grade School Custodian, 76, Charged With Sexually Assaulting 9-Year-Old Girl Hackensack Grade School Custodian, 76, Charged With Sexually Assaulting 9-Year-Old Girl
Hackensack Grade School Custodian, 76, Charged With Sexually Assaulting 9-Year-Old Girl A 76-year-old custodian at a grade school in Hackensack was charged with sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. Phillip A. Porter of Hackensack is accused of rubbing the child’s breasts and vagina and putting his penis in her mouth, according to a complaint filed in Superior Court. Special Victims Unit detectives arrested Porter on Monday, March 25, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He remained held Tuesday in the Bergen County Jail. Porter is charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault by contact and child endangerment. The 6-foot-3-inch, 165-pound Porter, formerly …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Impaired Wrong-Way Route 4 Driver Injures 5, Himself, Faces Multiple Assault Charges UPDATE: Impaired Wrong-Way Route 4 Driver Injures 5, Himself, Faces Multiple Assault Charges
Update: Impaired Wrong-Way Route 4 Driver Injures 5, Himself, Faces Multiple Assault Charges 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An impaired driver from Westchester was headed the wrong way on westbound Route 4 in Paramus when his SUV slammed head-on into another over the weekend, sending five people as well as himself to the hospital, authorities said. Whigmer J. Villanueva, 56, of Harrison was "operating his vehicle recklessly and under the influence of drugs and or alcohol" when his eastbound 2008 Toyota rammed an unidentified vehicle shortly near Paramus Road before 2:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23, a criminal complaint says. "Two passengers in the defendant's vehicle were injured as a result of the acci…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man, 31, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Pal Park Man, 31, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Pal Park
Man, 31, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Pal Park A 31-year-old man living in Palisades Park was charged with sexually assaulting a pre-teen. Jorge Orrego-Garcia “sexually assaulted a juvenile under the age of 13 in Palisades Park…in the past,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Monday, March 25. Records show that Orrego-Garcia is accused of a pair of alleged sexual assaults in 2021. Detectives from Musella’s Special Victims Unit arrested Orrego-Garcia on Friday. He remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail, charged with two counts each of sexual assault on a pre-teen and child endangerment through sexual conduct. Althou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Fugitive Captured In Indiana: Child Porn Charges Await 'Mountain' Man In Bergen County NJ Fugitive Captured In Indiana: Child Porn Charges Await 'Mountain' Man In Bergen County
NJ Fugitive Captured In Indiana: Child Porn Charges Await 'Mountain' Man In Bergen County A former Ridgewood resident who'd returned to his native Indiana while awaiting trial on child porn charges was zapped with a stun gun by state troopers who arrested him there on a fugitive warrant. Indiana State Police seized 70-year-old Robert "Mountain" Flynn after he tried to bolt out the back door of his current home in Anderson, IN, authorities said. The 6-foot, 190-pound fugitive apparently didn't require medical attention after resisting, authorities said. No troopers were reported injured. Flynn, who'd previously owned a sprinkler company in Waldwick and also worked as a local bo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Six Injured In Overnight Route 4 Crash, Impaired Wrong-Way Driver Charged UPDATE: Six Injured In Overnight Route 4 Crash, Impaired Wrong-Way Driver Charged
Update: Six Injured In Overnight Route 4 Crash, Impaired Wrong-Way Driver Charged 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An impaired driver from Westchester was headed the wrong way on westbound Route 4 in Paramus when his SUV slammed head-on into another over the weekend, sending five people as well as himself to the hospital, authorities said. Whigmer J. Villanueva, 56, of Harrison was "operating his vehicle recklessly and under the influence of drugs and or alcohol" when his eastbound 2008 Toyota rammed an unidentified vehicle shortly near Paramus Road before 2:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23, a criminal complaint says. "Two passengers in the defendant's vehicle were injured as a result of the accident …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Judge Keeps South Hackensack Ex-Con Jailed Following Threats Judge Keeps South Hackensack Ex-Con Jailed Following Threats
Judge Keeps South Hackensack Ex-Con Jailed Following Threats A judge ordered that an ex-con from South Hackensack who was seized in a SWAT team raid remain in custody after he told a police officer that he "should've killed y'all mother f*ckers as soon as you came in the door." Township police got a tip that Robert Jackson had a handgun in his home even though a drug conviction from nearly a decade ago prevents him from legally possessing one, Detective Sgt. James Donatello said. Jackson had spent nearly seven years in state prison in two separate stretches since 2012. He was on parole for a previous conviction when he sold $10,000 worth of heroi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Food Delivery Driver From Hackensack Charged With Collecting Child Porn Food Delivery Driver From Hackensack Charged With Collecting Child Porn
Food Delivery Driver From Hackensack Charged With Collecting Child Porn A food delivery driver from Hackensack was arrested Thursday and charged with collecting child pornography, authorities said. Michael Sapuppo, 38, “used the Internet to view, download and possess items depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent and pubescent children,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said following the March 21 arrest. Members of Musella’s Cyber Crimes Unit collected evidence while executing a search warrant at Sapuppo’s garden apartment right off Route 80, the prosecutor said. Sapuppo was charged with possessing child sexual abuse material and sent to the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar
Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar Authorities who’ve charged four men with the brutal murder of a man outside a Garfield bar last month turned to the public for help finding a fugitive gang member from Pennsylvania who sources said repeatedly stabbed the victim in the chest. Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 35, of East Stroudsburg, PA, and his four companions confronted Richard Franceschi, 31, of Hawthorne outside JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street before dawn this past Feb. 4, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Vargas had a knife and co-defendant Jayson William Rivera, 23, also of East Stroudsburg, had a handgun, the pr…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bergenfield Widower, 94, Charged In Hit-And-Run Death Of Beloved Teacher From Dumont Bergenfield Widower, 94, Charged In Hit-And-Run Death Of Beloved Teacher From Dumont
Bergenfield Widower, 94, Charged In Hit-And-Run Death Of Beloved Teacher From Dumont UPDATE: A 94-year-old widower from Bergenfield was charged with the hit-and-run death of a teacher from Dumont, authorities confirmed on Friday. Ernest F. Hofmann was driving a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup that struck Elizabeth Feliciano-Rosa, 54, as she crossed Madison Avenue at Washington Avenue at 5:19 p.m. Thursday, March 14, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The victim was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Hofmann kept going, the prosecutor said. CPR was being conducted on the 44-year-old victim after she was struck at Washington &a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Compassionate, Committed, Adored: Englewood Teacher From Dumont ID'd As Fatal Hit-Run Victim Compassionate, Committed, Adored: Englewood Teacher From Dumont ID'd As Fatal Hit-Run Victim
Compassionate, Committed, Adored: Englewood Teacher From Dumont ID'd As Fatal Hit-Run Victim 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A shocked silence that gripped a downtown intersection was pierced by the anguished scream of a woman whose mother -- a popular school teacher in Englewood -- had just been struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver less than a mile from her Dumont home. A lifeless Elizabeth Rosa lay off the corner of Washington and West Madison avenues as the driver who hit her stopped and got out, according to a witness. He just as quickly got back into the red pickup truck and sped off, the witness said. ****** 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A 94-year-old widower from Bergenfield was charged with the hit-and-run …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Another Child, Another Sex Allegation Against Tri-County Educator From North Jersey Another Child, Another Sex Allegation Against Tri-County Educator From North Jersey
Another Child, Another Sex Allegation Against Tri-County Educator From North Jersey 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A veteran school administrator who was accused of having sexual contact with an underage student in Bergen County when he was a middle school band director there is now facing charges involving another underage teen in another county. Kurt Zimmerman, a 55-year-old married father of two, was working in the Morris Hills Regional District in Rockaway when he “engaged in sexual conduct with a juvenile student who was at least 16 years of age but under the age of 18,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Thursday, March 14. Zimmerman, currently of Rockaway, had worked in the di…

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by Jerry DeMarco